Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a solar cell module including a plurality of solar cells connected to one another and a method and a device for repairing the solar cell module.
Description of the Related Art
A solar cell includes a semiconductor substrate forming a p-n junction, an emitter region, a back surface field region, and electrodes connected to the semiconductor substrate using the emitter region or the back surface field region as an interface.
The plurality of solar cells each having the above-described configuration are electrically connected to one another using a wire called an interconnector to constitute a string. The plurality of strings are connected to one another to constitute a solar cell module.
The above-described process for electrically connecting the plurality of solar cells is referred to as a busing process in the field of solar cell. After the busing process is completed, an electroluminescence (EL) test is conducted to determine whether or not there is a defect in the solar cell. The EL test is a method for testing the quality of the solar cell using a characteristic of the solar cell which generates light when electric power is supplied to the solar cell.
The solar cell detected as a defective product through the EL test is replaced by a new solar cell. This is referred to as a repairing.
So far, the interconnector having the size of about 1.5 mm was used to electrically connect the adjacent solar cells. About three interconnectors are generally used to electrically connect the two adjacent solar cells.
The solar cell includes a bus electrode having a width of about 1.5 mm, so as to connect the interconnector to the solar cell.
The bus electrode is electrically connected to a finger electrode collecting carriers and is made from the same material (for example, silver (Ag)) as the finger electrode. It acts as a cause of an increase in the manufacturing cost of the solar cell. Further, when the wide interconnectors and the wide electrodes are formed on a front surface of the solar cell, on which light is incident, a size of a light receiving surface of the solar cell may necessarily decrease. Further, a partially shade area is generated because of the interconnector. Hence, the efficiency of the solar cell is reduced.